Nine Inch Nails

2017 seems to be the year of the music festival. With new festivals like Desert Daze and Burger Boogaloo gaining traction, the stalwarts have upped the ante on their lineups, boasting unique and eclectic selections of damn fine music. FYF Fest has come a long way from its meager Echo Park beginnings and from July 21st to 23rd it will once again take over Exposition Park in Los Angeles this year and damn if they haven’t booked one hell of a lineup.

As San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival made a seemingly bold move by including Trent Reznor’s freshly reunited band of heavy hitters in Nine Inch Nails to its weekend roster, some wondered if this was the right decision considering a historically safe trend of artists who provide the soundtrack for having a good time in the park. It ended up working out brilliantly – Nine Inch Nails’ Saturday night closing performance will go down as one of the greatest since the festival started in 2008. Not bad for having to follow Sir Paul McCartney’s nearly three-hour rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza the previous evening. We were lucky enough to catch up with touring guitarist and longest standing live member, Robin Finck, for a few questions just before the musical onslaught. [read the whole post]

I have often said that electronic music concerts are the best example of an experience that can go one of two ways: either the dull setting of a single DJ with a mild array of lights and unreasonably loud walls of bass that do more to rattle your teeth than to provide enjoyable percussion, or a full-on experience — from either one man with a table covered in expensive gear, or an entire band centered around synths, drum machines, or other instruments of the digital age — with a dazzling visual accompaniment. It also helps, of course, if you have more to bring to the table than simple a throbbing house beat and a simple-yet-evolving methodology to your melody and rhythm; adding traditional or untraditional rock instruments, as well as an aesthetic that blends them with the sweeping pulses that make up the backbone of your sound, is a sure-fire way to something refreshing and undoubtedly successful. Such is the case with the Liverpool music collective known as Ladytron, who also up the scale every time they play by bringing an eclectic set of opening acts — guaranteeing an exciting show every time.

What we’ve got here is a podcast! Dakin, D.P. and I recorded a podcast at the 10th Floor Studio on New Montgomery last night, and we’re presenting it here to you! I’m working hard to get this going on itunes, but it’s not as simple as all that. We have to apply and be approved. Well, rather than wait for that approval, you can always just listen to the podcast right here and now! Once we have an itunes subscription link, we’ll be sure to send it along.